1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and the like for executing a job such as a print job.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a job execution method in which data used to execute a job is accumulated in a server and the job is executed by an apparatus arbitrarily selected by a user from among a plurality of apparatuses.
For example, a job execution method has been proposed in which data used to execute a job of printing a document is accumulated in a server and the job is executed by a printer arbitrarily selected by a user from among a plurality of printers. A function in which a printer selected by a user requests a server for job data, retrieves the job data therefrom, and executes a job may be generally called “pull printing”. A technique relating to the pull printing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,582,142.
The pull printing is used appropriately, for example, in the following case: Before leaving a branch office α to visit a branch office β, a user operates a personal computer installed in the branch office α to create a document, and saves, in a server, job data used for printing the document. After arriving at the branch office β, the user selects any printer from among printers installed in the branch office β and logs onto the printer thus selected.
The selected printer requests the server for the job data, receives the job data therefrom, and then prints the document.
Meanwhile, when data for a job is generated, a user specifies a condition for executing the job. In the case of pull printing, however, when data for a job is generated, an apparatus to execute output is not specified. Accordingly, an apparatus selected later by the user in order to cause execution of the job is not always capable of executing the job based on the condition specified by the user. As a result, the user sometimes cannot obtain a resultant based on the condition desired by him/her.